Published by: Simon&Schuster
Genre: Contemporary, Coming of age, YA, Romance, Summer
Rating:
On it, thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks that Emily would normally never try. But what if they could bring her best friend back?
Apple picking at night? Okay, easy enough.
Dance until dawn? Sure. Why not?
Kiss a stranger? Um...
Emily now has this unexpected summer, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected), to check things off Sloane's list. Who knows what she’ll find?
Go skinny-dipping? Wait...what?
I
have to admit, I am not a huge fan of coming-of-age books. I am not a
teen anymore and I find most of these stories are packed with forced
melancholia and unrelatable situations. However, I have heard great
things about Matson's books so I thought I'd try one.
The story
is about 16-17 year old Emily (exact age unclear, or I just don't
remember it) whose best friend Sloane unexpectedly disappeared, leaving
Emily a bucket list of things to do during the summer as her "last"
wish.
Right of the bat, I disliked Emily's weak personality. She
appeared to be more than happy to live under the shadow of the popular
girl, Sloane, who she idolised beyond reason. From the flashbacks, we
see that Emily had no backbone whatsoever, could never say no to Sloane
even when she was being absurd and in the present, she almost has a
panic attack when she goes to a party of fellow high schoolers BY
HERSELF!! The horror! When a guy offered to move her car because it
broke down in the middle of the road, she couldn't even converse with
him, she was so shy. I really don't like it when teenage girls are
portrayed this way, because I was one of these girls back in the day and
I still beat myself over what a stupid idiot I was for letting other
people overshadow me. It was horrible and the last thing I want is to
relive it through books.
That being said, Emily's transformation
begins when she decides to do the list of tasks Sloane left her,
probably the one good thing she did in the entire book. Even though
Emily is no adventure seeker, she understands it is something she just
has to do, mostly because Sloane told her to.
Through these tasks,
it dawns on Emily that she has been living her life by someone else's
rules and it was time for a change. She slowly realises she is a smart,
strong, self - reliant young girl, who doesn't need anyone to speak for
her or tell her what to do or how to act. Of course, she was a bit slow
to come to that realisation, but at least she finally did. The slow pace
only made it more realistic.
The tasks themselves were funny and
emotional at times, that part of the book is the best in my opinion. And
the fact that she gained nice and understanding friends along the way,
was a bonus. I really liked the "love interest", Frank. He was a decent
guy, Don't expect a sizzling love story though, it was more of a close
friendship that led to something more in the end. A cute and sweet
relationship fitting for high schoolers, I liked it.
Apart from
Sloane, I didn't particularly care about Emily's parents. They seemed
uninterested in their children, bordering on abandonment. It seemed they
only cared about their "art", and they came off as selfish jerks. If
that is how Emily grew up, I kinda get her attachment to Sloane and her
need to find someone to take care of her.
Finally,
Overall, Since You've Been Gone was a cute and easy read. The whole tone of the book was a bit flat for me, there were no intense emotions from anyone involved, and for a 450 page book, that's not great. But seeing that I am certainly not the target audience for this book, I would happily recommend it to ages 12-15 as a nice, summer read.
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